Thursday, 29 October 2009

I vaguely heard of The Parlor Mob before but never listened to their music. I heard good things about them and they were sharing the stage with Black Stone Cherry in a double bill concert. So I expected a good solid rock night!The Parlor Mob at Melkweg Amsterdam, October 26 2009 (Ronald Says 8 out of 10)The only thing I was disappointed about was them only playing for 30 minutes. I expected them to play for about an hour since it looked like they weren't just the support act. Their music is heavenly inspired by big 70s rock bands like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. Heavy grooves and guitar licks combined with bluesy tunes. Singer Mark Melicia has a high pitch voice that reminds me of The Mars Volta now and then. They waste little time in between the songs to make full use of the time they have. Their album 'And You Were A Crow' that I bought afterwards is equally solid and will spend many hours in my CD player.

Black Stone Cherry at Melkweg Amsterdam, October 26 2009 (Ronald Says 6 out of 10)Unfortunately I forgot my ear plugs tonight since it turned out that I really needed them. I like this band's music. Their powerful no nonsense rock songs are perfect for a hard rocking live performance. And hard rocking it was! Just too bad they could have done with a little less. Lots of long hair flipping, fist in the air, stick twirling and such turned it all into a cheesy performance. A ceaseless wall of noise kept pounding the crowd until they were numb. This was even more appearent when they played a piece of "Sweet Home Alabama" that had lost all its subtlety and strength compared to the original. Drum player John Fred Young has an enormous amount of energy and keeps pounding his drum kit. Too bad his only volume level is "as loud as possible" and he keeps filling every gap with fills and notes. I'm sure the boys can play well and I don't mind an energetic rock show. Except they forget that the primary focus should be on the music.

So in the end I could have used more of The Parlor Mob and less Black Stone Cherry.